Apparatus for preparing glass for working



Feb. 1, 1955" R. H. DRESHMAN 2,700,850

APPARATUS FOR PREPARING GLASS FOR WORKING Filed May|l8, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. ,Qqy /7. .Orajfiman.

yw EM Feb. 1, 1955 R. H. DRESHMAN APPARATUS FOR PREPARING GLASS FOR WORKING Filed May 18, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 L".. 1 @Mw Feb. 1, 1955 R. H. DRESHMAN 2,700,850

APPARATUS FOR PREPARING GLASS FOR WORKING Filed May 18, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR ROY H. DRESHMAN BY zafim ATTORNEY United States Patent APPARATUS FOR PREPARING GLASS FOR WORKING Roy H. Dreshman, Homestead, Pa.

Application May 18, 1951, Serial No. 227,007

11 Claims. (CI. 49-50) This invention relates generally to apparatus for preparing glass articles to work the same and more particularly to machines for providing relative oscillating motion between the glass articles and the source of heat applied thereto in preparing it for working.

In preparing cold glass articles for working the article or the source of heat is usually rotated or the article is rotated as it travels through a long heating flame. The relative rotary movement between the glass article and the source of heat is employed for glassware of circular cross section. When the glass article is a tube that is oval in cross section, cams have been employed to move oppositely disposed burner tips radially in and out as the tube rotates, to maintain the proper flame application on the oval. With this construction only a limited application of heat is applied.

In the structure comprising this invention, the burner or electrode completely surrounds the article to provide a continuous source of heat and either the burner or the article oscillates, or both are oscillated in the same direction at different speeds or in different directions at the same or different speeds, to unify the distribution of heat over the surface to be worked. It is preferable for the source of heat, whether it has a multiple of independently adjustable burner tips or a partible or solid annular burner or an annular electrode, to approximate the shape of the article to be heated. The source of heat should be slightly larger to permit oscillation of the article and the electrode or burner regardless of the shape of the area to be heated. When using a fluid fuel flame the total oscillation should span at least three jets of flame to properly unify the heat distribution. In this manner the construction of the burner or electrode should be such that the flames or contact points are relatively close to each other, completely encircling the article and providing enough clearance space so that the degree of oscillation does not carry the surface too far beyond or into the hottest zone of the flame due to the shape of the article. If the shape permits an oscillation covering at least three jets of the flame and still maintains the surface in the hottest zone of the flame throughout the oscillation, the distribution of heat will be uniform and the glass will be easily severed or otherwise heated for working.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a rotary drive for selectively rotating or oscillating the ware, or the burner, or both, which drive includes a clutch having cams adjustable to produce the oscillations in various increments of amplitude from zero to the summation of the longest arm length of the cams. This drive permits the structure to be adaptableto various sizes and shapes of ware and burners. This invention clearly contemplates the use of the dials to ad ust and to indicate the relative position of the cams and in addition, a means for locking them in any selected position.

This invention is particularly adapted for use in working nonround articles or in cutting odd shaped holes in the side of a glass article.

Other objects and advantages appear hereinafter in the following description and claims.

The accompanying drawings show, for the purpose of exemplification without limiting the invention or claims thereto, certain practical embodiments of the invention wherein:

Fig. 1 is an isometric view of a manually operated oscillating support for glass articles.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of an automatic burn-01f machine.

3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of 1g.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing the cams set at to that shown in Fig. 3.

5 is a plan view of an elliptically shaped article.

F g. 6 is a plan view of a triangularly shaped article.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of an article shaped on the order of a cycloid.

Fig. 8 is a view in side elevation of an automatic burn-01f machine wherein the burner as well as the article may be oscillated or rotated.

Referring to Fig. l the hollow base 1 is provided with a shoulder 2 forming a race to carry the bearings 3, which supports the burner member 4. The burner 4 is a gas type burner having a chamber 5 supplied with gas from a suitable source by means of the flexible tube 6 and is provided, as indicated at 7 with an annularly arranged series of closely spaced jets or orifices for issuing the gas which is ignited and forms an annular flame that impinges against the square glass tube 8. These glass articles may have the shape such as illustrated in Figs. 5, 6, and 7. The burner 4 thus may be oscillated about its axis and is provided with upwardly extending posts 10 and 11 which have pivotally connected thereto, the reach rods 12 and 13. The ends of these rods are slotted, as indicated at 14, for receiving the pivot member 15 in opposite ends of the oscillating arm 16. The pivotal points 15 are likewise adjustable radially of the arm 16 by means of the slots 17. These pivots may be adjustably secured at any position along the slots and function to pivot the rods to the arms. The arm 16 is provided with a sleeve 18 which may be adjustably secured to the shaft 20 by means of the screw 21. A collar 22 with a set screw 23 is provided on the rod for the purpose of rotatably supporting the oscillating arm 16 on the shaft when the set screw 21 is unloosened.

The shaft 20 is provided with a shoulder, as indicated at 24, that rests on the bearing 25 formed on the end of the arm 26. The lower end of the shaft 20 extends below the support 26 and is provided with a manual operating lever 27, which may be oscillated between the adjustable stops 28 and 30 on the arm 31 that is secured to the base 1.

The tubular glass article 8 has a cylindrical portion, as indicated at 32, but the whole of the tube may be square. A vise 33 is clamped on the tube 32 and is provided with the oppositely disposed pins 34 and 35 for pivotally securing the links 36 and 37 thereto. The other ends of the links 36 and 37 are pivotally attached to the rocking lever 38 by means of the pivot members 40 which are adjustable both in the arm 38 and the links 36 and 37 by reason of the slots 14 and 17 as previously described with relation to the pivot members. The arm 38 is provided with the sleeve 41 and the set screw 42 for holding the same secure to the shaft 20. This oscillating arm is likewise provided with a collar 43 for the purpose of supporting the oscillating arm 38, if it is not attached or otherwise secured to the shaft by the set screw 44. An upper bearing member 45 may be provided to support the top of the vertical shaft 20.

The tubular glass article 8 may extend above the vise 33 and it may be supported by a mechanical or suction grip, but is free to rotate.

It will be seen that, when the lever 27 is oscillated between the adjustable stops 28 and 30 the levers 16 and 38 are caused to oscillate in the same degree and depending upon the adjustment of the pivotal points 15 and 40 and the connecting links between these points and the burner itself and the vise, the burner may be oscillated in one direction while the glass is oscillated in the opposite direction or by attaching the arms 36 and 37 to the opposite ends of the oscillating lever 38, the burner may be oscillated in the same direction as that of the glass tube. However by adjustment of the pivotal points, the degree of throw of one oscilating member may be adjusted differently to that of the other one so that they both oscillate in the same direction, but at difierent speeds or distances, thus providing relative rotary movement between the glass article and the flame.

It will be noted that the square tube 8 is smaller in size than the square opening in the burner. A sufficient size is permitted between these members to provide room for the formation of the flame. A slight oscillating motion, given either to the burner or to the tube 8, will be effective to unify the distribution of heat around the tube. If a cutting flame is employed for the purpose of cutting or severing the glass, the severed portion of the tube 8 will drop through the hollow base 1 from whence it may be removed from the vicinity of the machine.

Any type or shape of burner and corresponding shape of article may be employed in a machine of this character, some article shapes of which are illustrated in Figs. 5, 6 and 7.

In the structure shown in Figs. 2 and 3 the burn-01f machine is supported on the base 45 which carries the motor, the air and the vacuum pump, and other parts required for the operation of a burn-off machine. This base also supports the burner 4 and a standard 46. The standard 46 is hollow and has journaled therein the vertical shaft 47 which extends above the post. The stand ard 46 is likewise provided with the forwardly extending arm 48, which carries the spindle 50 which is vertically adjustable in the sleeve 51 and which may be held at a constant position by the splint clamping members 52 on the outer end of the arm. The arm 48 may be adjusted vertically on the column 46 and held in any desirable position by means of the set screws 53.

The arm 48 also supports the vertical tube 54 by the annular flange on the upper end thereof as indicated at 55. This tube has journaled therein the rotary sleeve 56 which has keyed to its lowermost end the dial member 57. A central shaft 58 is journaled within the sleeve 56 and likewise is provided with a dial member 60. The dial members 57 and 60 are provided with indicia to indicate the degrees of the relative rotary positions of these two members with respect to each other which will be marked in units from to 180. The dials 57 and 60 may be locked together by the lock nut 61 threadably engaged on the lower end of the shaft 58.

The vertical shaft 47 has a sprocket wheel 62 secured at its upper end and connected by the chain 63 to the sprocket wheel 64 and keyed to the sleeve 56. The upper end of the sleeve 56 is shaped in the form of a cam 65 which is eccentric to the axis of the sleeve 56 and the shaft 58 as shown in Fig. 3. A second cam 66 is secured on the upper end of the shaft 58 by means of the pin 67. This cam member has a circular opening to receive the circular eccentric cam 65, however, its outer surface is eccentric to the shaft 58 to which it is attached.

When the two cams are adjusted to provide a zero indicia on the dials 57 and 6t) and are locked together by the lock nut 61 at the bottom of these shafts, the cams 6S and 66 are in the position, as indicated in Fig. 3, and in this position the outer surface of the cam 66, which is provided with an antifrictional bearing 68, is concentric with both the sleeve 56 and the shaft 58 and, when rotated by means of the drive shaft 47, the earns 65 and 66 merely rotate within the chamber 70 of the oscillating driving arm 71 and no movement will be transmitted to this arm. The arm 71 is pivotally supported on the pin 72 that is mounted on the collar 73 supported from the housing 54. The other end of the arm 71 is provided with a loose pin 74 that fits into a socket for the opening 75 in the sprocket gears 76. The sprocket gear 76 is provided with a chain 77 for driving the sprocket gear 75 that is fixed to the spindle 50.

Thus, when the dial members 57 and 60 are adjusted relative to one another so as to provide varying degrees of crank arms owing to the relative position of the earns 65 within the cams 66, the oscillating arms 71 will oscillate the sprocket member 76 and cause the spindle 50 to oscillate.

As shown in Fig. 4 the cam 65 is turned 180 from that relative to the cam 66 so that both cams function to produce a crank arm of maximum throw. Thus the extreme conditions are illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings and the cams may be adjusted to give diffcrent degrees of oscillation to the spindle Si by minutely changing their relative position in clamping the dials 57 and 6t) tcegther. In this way a very slight oscillation may be given to the spindle 50 or a very large oscillation may be given thereto, thus, enabling the machine to be adapted to almost any character of cross sectional form and mating burner setup.

If it is desired to provide a rotary motion to the spindle 50, the pin 74 is withdrawn and the pivoted latch 80 is thrown upwardly into its socket as indicated in dotted lines so as to rigidly lock the sprocket gears 64 and 76 together, which will cause the latter to be rotated when the drive shaft 47 is rotated. When this machine is set in this manner to provide rotary motion to the spindle 50, the position or the effect of the dials 57 and 60 together with the lock nut has no effect on the apparatus.

The spindle 50 has a vacuum head 81 on its lower end and is provided with a downwardly disposed vacuum chuck 82, which is adjustably radially to the head of the arm 83 and is provided with an adjustable steady rest 84 at its lower end. The ware, as indicated at 8, may be held by a vacuum lying within the chuck 82 or at the top by means of a vacuum lying positioned in the head. Thus the glass article may be placed in the chuck by hand with the lower squared end being within the burner 4 and may be permitted to oscillate while the flames are playing thereon.

In place of oscillating the ware as illustrated in Fig. 2, the drive through the adjustable cam arrangement may be applied to the burner as well as to the article and thus permit oscillation of the burner in place of the ware or at the same time that the ware is being oscillated. If desired both the burner and the ware may be provided with an oscillatory motion such as disclosed in Fig. 8 by the use of drive and cam structures as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4. In Fig. 8 the post is suspended from the arm 48 at a different arcuate position relative to the post 46. The post 90 supports the same mechanism as that supported above the arm 48 for oscillating and rotating the article. The mechanism, being identical, is marked with the same reference numerals and is driven and adjusted in the same manner. The arm 71 is extended to support the split sprocket 78' which in turn is secured to the split burner 4. If it is necessary to split the burner 4 and the sprocket 78 to remove the article from the working position, the chain 77 may be removed from its sprocket for this purpose. Otherwise the chuck 91 may be actuated to release the article and allow the same to pass downwardly through the burner.

I claim:

1. A machine for preparing non-round glass articles for working, comprising a chuck mounted to support the article on a given axis, a heating device shaped to coincide with the non-round surface area to be worked on the article, and means to selectively produce relative rotary and oscillating motion between the heating device and the article to unify the distribution of heat on the selected surface area.

2. A machine for preparing non-round glass articles for working, comprising a rotary chuck mounted to support the article on a given axis, a heating device shaped to coincide with the non-round surface area to be worked on the article, and means to selectively rotate and oscillate the article to unify the distribution of heat from the heating device.

3. A machine for preparing non-round glass articles for working, comprising a chuck mounted to support the article on a given axis, a heating device shaped to coincide with the non-round surface area to be worked on the article, and means to selectively rotate and oscillate the heating device to unify the distribution of heat applied to the article.

4. A machine for preparing non-round glass articles for working, comprising a chuck mounted for rotation to support the article on a given axis, a heating device mounted for rotation to supply heat to the non-round surface area to be worked on the article, a rotary drive shaft, and a clutch mechanism between the drive shaft and chuck selectively operable to rotate and to oscillate the chuck and heating device in varying degrees of amplitude 5. A machine for preparing non-round glass articles for working, comprising a chuck mounted to support the article on a given axis, a heating device mounted to supply heat to the non-round surface area to be worked on the article, a rotary drive shaft, and a clutch mechanism between the drive shaft and chuck having concentrically fitting cams selectively adjustable relative to each other to selectively oscillate the chuck in degrees of increment amplitude from zero to the summation of the longest arm length of each cam.

6. A machine for preparing non-round glass articles for working, comprising a chuck mounted to support the article on a given axis, a heating device mounted to supply heat to the non-round surface areas to be worked on the article, a rotary drive shaft, a clutch mechanism between the drive shaft and chuck having concentrically fitting cams selectively adjustable relative to each other, a dial attached to each cam and mounted coaxially with each other, and means to lock the dials together'to selectively adjust the cams relative to each other and produce an effective crank arm to oscillate the chuck in degrees of increment amplitude from zero to the summation of the longest arm length of each cam.

7. In a machine for working hollow glass articles comprising a rotatable chuck member for supporting glass articles, a rotatable heating member supported axially of the chuck member for supplying heat to the glass article in the chuck member, drive means to oscillate one of said members including a pair of coaxial concentric cams mounted to be adjustable in increments relative to each other to produce a crank arm of from finite length to a crank arm equal to the sum of the eccentricity of both cams, clamp means to lock said cams relative to each other to maintain a crank arm of elected length.

8. The structure of claim 7 characterized in that one cam is secured to a rotary sleeve and has a circular opening eccentric to the rotary axis of said sleeve, the other cam having a circular perimeter to fit in said circular opening and is secured to a shaft concentric with said sleeve.

9. The structure of claim 8 characterized in that said clamp means to lock said cams is effective between said concentric sleeve and shaft.

10. The structure of claim 7 characterized in that said drive means includes a circular perimeter on the outermost of said cams, a pivoted arm having a slot as wide as said circular perimeter to receive the same but longer than the sum of the eccentricity of both cams.

11. The structure of claim 10 characterized in that said circular perimeter includes an antifrictional bearmg.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,577,538 Parker Mar. 23, 1926 FOREIGN PATENTS 272,308 Great Britain June 15, 1927 

